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Hurricane Irene: 4,000 evacuees pack Long Island shelter

Long Island residents streamed toward shelters in densely populated Nassau County, where the edge of the storm is expected to hit Saturday night.

One of the first shelters to open, at Nassau County Community College, was already full to capacity with 4,000 people at midday Saturday.

The storm is expected to hit particularly hard on Long Island because the tide will already be high thanks to the new moon and the ground is already saturated because of heavier than normal rainfall recently.